About Amy Hagerstrom
Helping you reconnect with yourself through somatic and integrative therapy
Somatic Experiencing • Safe and Sound Protocol • Rest and Restore Protocol • Integrative Mental Health
I know what it’s like to feel reactive, in pain, and disconnected from yourself and unsure how to find your way back.
What changed everything for me was including my body in my mental health healing. Bringing the body into the therapy process made all the difference.
That experience shaped how I work today, honoring the whole of who you are — and that includes your body. I help people reconnect with themselves through mind-body therapy, building the capacity to stay present and grounded when life feels hard, while supporting healing, growth, and a fuller experience of connection and joy.
Hi, I’m Amy.
If you’ve been pushing through the days, doing your best while carrying more than anyone realizes, you’re not alone. I know what that’s like.
Therapy that included my body helped me understand what was really happening underneath, the tension, emotions, and patterns I couldn’t think my way out of. It gave me space for all of me and helped me meet myself with compassion and clarity. I learned to understand my needs and stay with difficult feelings without losing myself in them.
Now I support clients across Florida and Illinois in doing the same through a holistic approach that honors your lived experience and supports your nervous system.
Together, we look at what supports your healing physically, emotionally, and mentally so you can move through life with more steadiness, connection, and capacity for what matters most. This work helps you rebuild trust in yourself and your body, so you can meet both ease and challenge with more clarity and confidence.
Somatic therapy, including Somatic Experiencing, the Safe and Sound Protocol, and the Rest and Restore Protocol, supports your brain and body in recognizing safety again. We work gently with your nervous system and physiology, allowing the patterns that are ready to shift to do so and helping new ones take root.
Because healing is also influenced by how you live, we can include attention to sleep, movement, nutrition, and other daily rhythms. This integrative lens helps you understand how your habits and health affect how you feel mentally and emotionally. As a Certified Integrative Mental Health Provider, I weave these elements in when they support your goals, always at a pace that feels right for you.
This therapy is whole-person work. It supports your nervous system while honoring your mind, emotions, and lived experience. Healing often begins when we meet what’s happening inside with curiosity and care. From there, new possibilities open, not by changing who you are but by helping you return to yourself.
Many of the people I work with have tried talk therapy.
They’ve gained insight—but still feel stuck. They want to feel less reactive, reduce physical tension or pain, and stop shutting down in moments that matter. But they’re not sure how to get there.
This kind of work offers a different starting point. It doesn’t ask you to talk through everything. Instead, it helps you reconnect with yourself, notice what’s happening underneath, and create real shifts—from the inside out.
What Somatic and Integrative Therapy Can Offer
If talk therapy hasn’t been enough, you’re not alone. Insight can be helpful, but it doesn’t always change how your body reacts under pressure. That’s where somatic and integrative work can make the difference. It includes listening to your body, supporting your nervous system, and understanding how daily habits and health affect how you feel. Stress, overwhelm, and shutdown often live in the body, but they’re also shaped by how you care for yourself and the rhythms of your life.
Through somatic and integrative therapy, you can:
Feel more connected to your body and emotions, and clearer about what you need
Stop getting swept up in triggers and start responding in ways that feel more like you
Face pressure, relationships, and uncertainty without spiraling or shutting down
Support your nervous system and overall well-being, creating lasting change without having to push or power through
This approach can include:
Somatic Experiencing (SE) – a gentle, body-based method that helps your system release built-up stress and find more ease.
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) – optional listening therapies that use filtered music to support regulation. SSP helps your system recognize safety and connection, while RRP supports deep rest and recovery, especially if you’ve been in survival mode for a long time.
Integrative Mental Health – explores how nutrition, sleep, movement, and daily rhythms influence your mental and emotional well-being. These elements are always your choice, and we can include them when they feel supportive. As a Certified Integrative Mental Health Provider, I help you understand what nourishes your body’s natural balance so you can feel more grounded and resilient.
Together, these practices offer a different way forward. They support healing from the inside out and help you feel more like yourself again.
In our work together, we’ll start with where you are—and move at a pace that feels right for your system.
My approach is informed by:
Personal experience. I’ve done this work myself, and I know how vulnerable it can feel to slow down and really listen to what your body is saying.
Years of mind-body training. Before becoming a therapist, I spent years immersed in yoga, massage, and body-based healing. These earlier experiences deeply inform how I approach somatic work—supporting the nervous system and helping clients feel more connected to their bodies.
A developmental and attachment-informed lens. My graduate training was rooted in child development and early relational experiences. That work continues to shape how I understand not just nervous system patterns, but how we come to experience ourselves, others, and the world around us.
Professional education. I hold a Master’s in Social Work and certifications in Somatic Experiencing, Safe and Sound Protocol, Rest and Restore Protocol, and Integrative Mental Health. Each of these approaches supports emotional and physical well-being by including the body and nervous system in the healing process.
This work is grounded in care, collaboration, and deep respect for your process. It’s not about pushing through. It’s about helping you reconnect with yourself in a way that feels sustainable and real—with more space to show up as the person you know you are.
Let’s explore how this approach can support you. Schedule a free 10-minute consultation to take the first step.
The Perspective I Bring as a Therapist
Education & Licensure
Master’s in Social Work from Erikson Institute, Chicago, with a focus on Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (continues to shape my developmental and attachment-informed perspective)
Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies from Indiana University
Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Florida (#SW23332) and Illinois (#149026921)
Specialized Training & Certifications
Completed three years of Somatic Experiencing Training, resulting in SEP certification
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) — Trained and Certified Provider
Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) — Trained and Certified Provider
Clinical Applications of Polyvagal Theory with Dr. Stephen Porges and Deb Dana
Trauma Coupling Dynamics with Kathy Kain
Developmental Trauma: Later Developmental Stages with Raja Selvam
Advanced Nutritional and Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Professionals with Dr. Leslie Korn
Nutrition Essentials for Clinicians: Culinary Medicine to Improve Mood, Sleep, Attention, and Focus with Dr. Leslie Korn
Completed training requirements in Integrative Mental Health certification, becoming a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional
Earlier Body-Based Training
Diploma in Therapeutic Massage from The New School of Massage, Chicago (formerly licensed in Illinois)
200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (CYT-200) from Cityoga, Indianapolis
Therapy Qualifications
Outside of Therapy
I’m originally from the Midwest and lived in Chicago for a long time. I never imagined myself leaving big city life. But the more I connected with myself and my nervous system, the more I realized the city was draining me. I’m really loving Florida — the warmth of the sun, the ocean and intercoastal, and the slower (but not too slow) pace. It’s been a good change.
I spend a lot of time walking, reading, listening to podcasts, and practicing yoga. I love good food, old buildings, and real conversations that feel safe enough for vulnerability and bring a sense of genuine connection.
And then there’s my dog, Fergus. He makes me laugh and helps me be playful, something many of us forget how to access when life gets busy and stressful.
An Integrative and Somatic Therapist Who Gets It
I welcome all of you here — your thoughts, emotions, and the ways your body has learned to protect you. I know what it’s like to feel like it’s safer to keep things in, especially when past experiences, shame, or judgment have made openness feel risky.
In this work, nothing about you is too much. We include the body in how we listen, so you can begin to understand what it’s been holding and what it needs now. Together we make space for the patterns that have helped you survive and for the possibility of something new. Healing starts with being met as a whole person — mind, body, and emotions — and that’s the space I hold with care.
It’s an honor to do this work and to walk alongside people as they reconnect with themselves through the mind-body process.